Jayhawk Chris

Fished it yesterday for about 5 hours. Covered a lot of ground. Found a number of redds and fish doing their water dance. I stuck a nice 17" fish in a deep pool on an olive wooly, although I missed several more. It was my first wild bow down there. I did not target any fish on or near redds as I have too much respect for them. Fished Capps on Wednesday for about 4 hours and landed a couple of browns on midges. Missed/lost nearly a dozen fish on EHC from about 1-1:30 during a hatch. I had to trim my size 16 EHC down to about a size 20 to get any action. Saw a couple of trout water dancing there as well, but not nearly as much as I saw on Crane. There were a couple of powerbat fisherman that had a few nice fish. Still have a lot to learn about both of these creeks, but

Circle hooks work awesome for trout, catfish and carp. Yes the secret to them is that you do not want to set the hook in any manner whatsover. You want to make a long sweep stroke of the rod, or you could start reeling but that won't often do the trick. I will admit it is very tough to get used to not setting the hook like you have been taught all your life. I missed dozens of hits and hookups because I set the hook and literally ripped the hooked right out of the mouth. Once you get used to basically letting fish hook itself or a gentle sweeping stroke you will find your catch ratio skyrocket. Jef is right that the very few fish will become gut hooked. It takes patience, but it can be greatly rewarded.

Fishing was good on Tuesday afternoon and evening even with 4 generators running. Rapalas, lil cleos, scuds all caught fish. Caught close to 20 in about 2.5 hours. Did catch and release a 22" brown

Gary I will see you there! Safe travels! Anyone else who wants to join...just meet us at about 9 in the lot above chute 2.

Leonard, I can send you a pm with my cell phone number if you want and I can give you an "on the water" report if that helps you decide. Let me know.

Here is the scoop. I have decided to upgrade on my fly fishing vest. The current one I have serves its purpose but just wears on the shoulders/neck wrong and becomes uncomfortable. I really try to keep to a mimimum what I take with me on a trip.....dry flies, wet flies, tippet material, camera, bottle of water along with the forceps, clipper, floatant,etc. i figure when fishing in places like Taney, if there is something that I absolutely cannot live without, the car is never too far away. So here is my dilemma; I have been looking into buying perhaps a chest pack/backpack vest from Fishpond or another reputable manufacturer but wanted to get some feedback from those on the forum. What are you preferences? pluses/minuses to each. What I have found is that If I have pockets I will invariably find someway to cram something in there "just in case" in might need it. Yet in 7 years of fly fishing that has never occured. I realize this could be like a Ford/Chevy/ Dodge debate and it may not get me anywhere. What I am really asking for is for someone to give me some hardcore reasons for why you like/dislike something. Thanks. Chris

I am going to be down in the Branson area for work next week and will be doing some night fishing. If anyone wants to hook up, I will be glad to meet anyone at around 8:30 or so at the lot about chute two...I have a a grey chevy impala. Chris

"love at first bite"....that's funny, I don't care who you are.

I concur with BackCountry.... I have the D70s(they no longer make the D70) and I love it. I have had 3 other digital cameras before this and will never go back to film. I have put close to 20,000 pictures on each of my previous cameras. I would advise you that do not get caught up in the hype about how many megapixels a camera has. The human cannot distinguish over 2.5 megapixels ( I believe that number is right...I know for a fact it is not over 3) What is going to be most important to you is a good lense that captures light. You can have the best camera money can buy, but if you have a cheapo lense, you won't do yourself any good. I used to be a weekend photographer, but since I switched to digital about 7 years ago, I carry it with me everwhere. Everytime I jump in the car, I take my wallet, keys and camera. Every fishing or hunting trip, every business trip, the camera is the first thing I pack. There will be a learning curve on how to really get the most out of any camera. But with the auto features of most cameras, you will find that it will meet about 90% of your needs. if you are looking for more resources, try nikonians.org. It is a great website that is just for Nikon camera users. Scroll through the forum....there is not a question that you can think of that hasn't been asked already!

Congrats and thanks for sharing. I prefer to fish dries year round. Makes for tough fishing sometimes, but I just enjoy watching the rise too much to pass up the opportunity

I will be down there on the 1rst too. What time will you all be getting down there? I would love to learn a few things or two. Plus it is always nice to know that there are others around in case one should have some trouble.

I have no problem educating people on the rules and I am fully aware on the risk that may be involved. As Phil stated, most times, people clearly didn't know the rules or at least claimed not to. Depending on how receptive the individual(s) is to my feedback determines my next steps. If they keep violating the law, then that is exactly the reason that I just simply take pictures and do so obviously. Sometimes it is amazing what a camera and the act of pulling out your cell phone will make people think.

Danio, I have Time-Warner Cable here.

Phil, Saw you on the American Outdoorsman with Larry Moffit and Mark Tobin this morning. Looked like you were fishing either late last fall or late winter. That was one nice 'bow you caught. How much did that thing weigh? I thought it was kind of ironic that they put you in charge of the trolling motor so that they could fish without interupption, yet you got the big fish. The promotions that they did for your resort were nice as well. Chris Rohr

I don't know about most of you but I carry my digital camera with me all the time when fishing. When I see illegal activity, I make it very obvious that I am taking pictures of them individuals. I have even gone so far as to take pictures of their vehicles. It is amazing how fast people can run or will stop what they are doing when they know they are being caught on camera.